The prevent invention relates to information management system and apparatus using an open network environment in which necessary information is provided from an information providing server to a client by using an open network environment such as internet or the like and relates to a storage medium in which a control program of the apparatus has been stored and which can be read by a computer. More particularly, the invention relates to information management system and apparatus in which a connection management server for managing connection information and public personal information necessary to provide information is provided between an information providing server and a client and the client is allowed to have domination regarding providing of information and relates to a storage medium in which a control program of the apparatus has been stored and which can be read by a computer.
Hitherto, as a system for providing necessary information from a server to a client by using an open network environment, systems such as WWW (World Wide Web) using the internet, electronic mail, groupware, and the like have been known. According to the WWW, when a client accesses a server in which necessary information exists, the server transmits the necessary information in response to a request of the client. According to the electronic mail or the groupware, a mail server or a groupware server manages information by receiving and accumulating the information into a spool and the client accesses the spool and takes out the information received and accumulated.
The freshness and secrecy of information will now be considered as follows with respect to such an information management system using the open network environment. In the WWW, all information from the server is provided on the basis of an accessing request from the client and necessary information is retrieved and obtained in a real-time manner. The freshness of the information depends on a frequency of the access to the server. In order to obtain the latest information, it is necessary to frequently access the server. Data is open in principle and is not suitable for transmission and reception of personal information which needs to be non-public. In the electronic mail or the groupware, since the client accesses the spool and extracts the information received and accumulated in the spool, the freshness of the information depends on the frequency of the access to the spool. Although the secrecy of data depends on reliability of the mail server or the groupware server, a provider who manages the server can see the data, so that the secrecy is not so high. On the other hand, as for an information providing service using the WWW, electronic mail, or the like, personal information of the user to receive the service which is provided is necessary. Generally, the service provider registers the personal information of the users into a database in a lump and manages them. The user, therefore, has to provide the user personal information every service and the user personal information which needs to be collected is different every service. There is not an example such that the user information is commonly used by the service providers. Even if the user information is commonly used by an existing technique, it is hard to collect and manage the user information under the present situation. Further, the user who desires to receive information is difficult to determine a specific service provider from the beginning and the user strongly desires to finally determine a provider of necessary information after he received information from a plurality of service providers. In such a case as well, if the user does not open all of the personal information that is required by a service provider from the beginning, he cannot receive the information provided. If the user opens his personal information to a number of service providers, however, since a possibility that the public information is abused is high, he cannot usually do it. Consequently, it is actually difficult for the user to decide a specific service provider while making contacting with a number of service providers. A service provider has to be decided from the beginning. Thus, an advantage of the open network such that necessary information can be widely collected cannot be sufficiently used.